I have a chicken who went suddenly lame, with no apparent initial cause, and who has been making a stunning recovery. I'm writing this for those folks who are, like I did, spending frustrating hours searching forums and articles trying to find an answer as to what to do with their bird.
My now 9-month old Ameraucana, George, is a pet -- one of six. She's not livestock, I am on very friendly terms with all my chickens -- so 'culling' was not my solution. It became clear fairly early on that she did not have Marek's, and that we were dealing with a peculiar injury, a virus, a vitamin deficiency, or perhaps a congenital defect. I don't know what else it could be.
I found so many forum posts by people with similar mysteries, questions, concerns, advice, but of course the resolution was almost never there, unless the chicken died or was put down. Every other post I read just ended in the midst of the dilemma, with unanswered questions - except one, a guy had a lame rooster and spent all winter caring for him, and by spring the rooster had recovered and was pretty much back to normal. It took three months or more, and the guy said he just stuck it out, gave his bird a lot of attention - vitamins, meat, leg rubs, range of motion exercises, chicken physical therapy basically - and it worked. I don't recall if he knew the source of the problem, injury or whatever. But this one single very-hard-to-find positive resolution was so encouraging that I put faith in his advice and now after almost three months my hen is doing great. So I thought it was important that I give the loving keeper of a lame hen a tale with a happy outcome.
It's now February 2nd, and her lameness began middle of November. She was at the time not quite 7 months old. I noticed one day she was stomping-shuffling rather than walking, not lifting her legs. Soon she could no longer climb the ramp to the roost, and so I was lifting her on and off every night and morning for about a week. She was getting around, she just had no ability to bear weight on each leg separately. She couldn't scratch or hop up or jump down and was tripping over her own toes.
After that first week she had a legitimate injury trying to launch off the threshold of the woodshed, which is about 8-10 inches high. She crashed into the side of the barn and hurt her left leg. A visit to the vet revealed neuropathy and inflammation on her hip and hock joints, and she began three weeks of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. There was no bone injury, though the vet suggested she may have had a pelvic problem before the leg incident. Marek's was quickly ruled out.
I am lucky in that I work from home so I could spend time taking care of her, and also their coop is a large open one that I can go inside (8x8x8 feet). I live in the mountains in Vermont so the winter has been pretty harsh. Anyway, these are some of the things I did to help her out, and though it was extremely challenging at times, I am so glad I persevered because she is a lovely creature and a great friend, and is doing very well now.
She was only confined indoors for about a week in early December. After the crash landing she was unable to stand at all, so after the vet I brought her in to try to keep her comfortable, make sure she took meds and had adequate food/water, and so I could figure out what to do. I rebuilt parts of the coop and made a handicapped roost, and on the first warm night I reintegrated her with her five friends, which was not easy, but not as bad as some stories I've read. It took patience and my presence, but they accepted her by the second day.
Every day I would go to the coop and sit with her on my lap and rub her legs, gently moving them through their natural motions. I would try to do this at least once a day, often three times. When winter set in it was hard, as the coop could get down to 0-10 degrees. I installed heat panels ("cozy coop") by their roosting area and a ceramic heat emitter overhead to help take the edge off.
Incidentally, my chickens live in converted woodshed (predator-proofed and winterized against wind and drafts), not a small confined coop, and they are doing just fine in the winter. I was very anxious about how they would fare (this is my first ever experience with chickens), as it is often below zero out and gets down to the negative teens-twenties overnight. Some days it doesn't go above single digits all day long. But their coop has stayed consistently about 15 degrees warmer than outside and they are fine. (I suffer way more than they do, haha.)
I experimented a lot to improve George's diet, giving her vitamin supplements (Poly-vi-sol without iron, drops in the water), and especially B and E in the form of black oil sunflower seeds (lots). They are rich in protein, omega-6 fatty acids, and fiber, as well as B vitamins (thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, B6), vitamins A, E, K and folate, minerals and amino acids (read this - https://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/black-oil-sunflower-seeds.html). I believe this really helps, and I imagine the hens must know it because they love them and I assume it's not because they taste or smell great, but who knows.
I also gave her meat, which I think was a HUGE help (chickens are NOT vegetarians!), in the form of sardines (in olive oil, NO SALT) or high-quality cat food. Some may balk at this, but I've seen a chicken swallow a frog whole, so. I make what I call "hen haggis" - cat food mixed with corn kernels and oats. I'll add a bit of hot water and stir it up for their breakfast in the freezing cold. (This is all in addition to commercial mash as their regular winter feed.) EVERY TIME I've fed George meat she becomes bolder and more energetic, more confident.
Over the course of December and January, I spent a lot of time observing her, learning her behavior, trying to discern her wants and needs, moving her from place to place in the coop, helping her adjust. Occasionally as she improved and wanted to move more, I gave her 20-40mg buffered aspirin (baby aspirin or low-dose chewable, orange flavored worked well). I probably ought to have tried that earlier on. The physical therapy and also my benevolence and role as 'transport fairy' & defender against bullying all seemed to contribute to the confidence that helped her gain strength. I made sure she ate and drank plenty, distracting the others with treats while I fed her. I carefully trimmed her toenails, which had overgrown a bit from disuse.
So I stuck it out with George. I had no idea then and have no clear idea now whatever caused her mysterious lameness, and often I lamented that she might never get better. I can only guess it was either an odd injury, maybe to her back or pelvis, or vitamin deficiency. She has the same diet as the others, so perhaps she is just congenitally prone to require more of certain things. I have read that little chicks can suffer rickets, but never have found anything concerning older pullets or grown hens. I really don't know what happened.
Nevertheless, after two and a half months of care, she walks almost normally, maintains her balance without falling on her face, flaps her way up onto a hay bale and somehow makes it down again (I have yet to see that part). She has a dust bath, stretches without falling, shakes her feathers out, and just a couple days ago I saw her trying to scratch in the dirt on the floor of their coop. She couldn't do ANY of this up to about ten days ago. The past few days she seems to be recovering increasingly rapidly. Chickens are mysterious.
This was kinda long-winded, but I want to be detailed since I don't know how available I will be to respond to any comments or questions, as I am not the type to keep up with social media very well. But I will try to remember to check now and then. So please do ask questions or leave comments, and I hope that others who have had a hen recover from the mysteries of sudden lameness that seem a surprisingly common concern will also write about their little friend's recovery. I wish I'd had something like this to read two months ago.
The best outcome (apart from the fact that she is about 80% back to normal) is that I really got to know these creatures, and develop very individual relationships with them. I try to speak and understand their language, and I feel loved by them, and I don't believe as some people do that it's only because I provide food. I feel as though we know each other, and for me an interspecies bond is one of the great achievements a person can hope for in this life.
My now 9-month old Ameraucana, George, is a pet -- one of six. She's not livestock, I am on very friendly terms with all my chickens -- so 'culling' was not my solution. It became clear fairly early on that she did not have Marek's, and that we were dealing with a peculiar injury, a virus, a vitamin deficiency, or perhaps a congenital defect. I don't know what else it could be.
I found so many forum posts by people with similar mysteries, questions, concerns, advice, but of course the resolution was almost never there, unless the chicken died or was put down. Every other post I read just ended in the midst of the dilemma, with unanswered questions - except one, a guy had a lame rooster and spent all winter caring for him, and by spring the rooster had recovered and was pretty much back to normal. It took three months or more, and the guy said he just stuck it out, gave his bird a lot of attention - vitamins, meat, leg rubs, range of motion exercises, chicken physical therapy basically - and it worked. I don't recall if he knew the source of the problem, injury or whatever. But this one single very-hard-to-find positive resolution was so encouraging that I put faith in his advice and now after almost three months my hen is doing great. So I thought it was important that I give the loving keeper of a lame hen a tale with a happy outcome.
It's now February 2nd, and her lameness began middle of November. She was at the time not quite 7 months old. I noticed one day she was stomping-shuffling rather than walking, not lifting her legs. Soon she could no longer climb the ramp to the roost, and so I was lifting her on and off every night and morning for about a week. She was getting around, she just had no ability to bear weight on each leg separately. She couldn't scratch or hop up or jump down and was tripping over her own toes.
After that first week she had a legitimate injury trying to launch off the threshold of the woodshed, which is about 8-10 inches high. She crashed into the side of the barn and hurt her left leg. A visit to the vet revealed neuropathy and inflammation on her hip and hock joints, and she began three weeks of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. There was no bone injury, though the vet suggested she may have had a pelvic problem before the leg incident. Marek's was quickly ruled out.
I am lucky in that I work from home so I could spend time taking care of her, and also their coop is a large open one that I can go inside (8x8x8 feet). I live in the mountains in Vermont so the winter has been pretty harsh. Anyway, these are some of the things I did to help her out, and though it was extremely challenging at times, I am so glad I persevered because she is a lovely creature and a great friend, and is doing very well now.
She was only confined indoors for about a week in early December. After the crash landing she was unable to stand at all, so after the vet I brought her in to try to keep her comfortable, make sure she took meds and had adequate food/water, and so I could figure out what to do. I rebuilt parts of the coop and made a handicapped roost, and on the first warm night I reintegrated her with her five friends, which was not easy, but not as bad as some stories I've read. It took patience and my presence, but they accepted her by the second day.
Every day I would go to the coop and sit with her on my lap and rub her legs, gently moving them through their natural motions. I would try to do this at least once a day, often three times. When winter set in it was hard, as the coop could get down to 0-10 degrees. I installed heat panels ("cozy coop") by their roosting area and a ceramic heat emitter overhead to help take the edge off.
Incidentally, my chickens live in converted woodshed (predator-proofed and winterized against wind and drafts), not a small confined coop, and they are doing just fine in the winter. I was very anxious about how they would fare (this is my first ever experience with chickens), as it is often below zero out and gets down to the negative teens-twenties overnight. Some days it doesn't go above single digits all day long. But their coop has stayed consistently about 15 degrees warmer than outside and they are fine. (I suffer way more than they do, haha.)
I experimented a lot to improve George's diet, giving her vitamin supplements (Poly-vi-sol without iron, drops in the water), and especially B and E in the form of black oil sunflower seeds (lots). They are rich in protein, omega-6 fatty acids, and fiber, as well as B vitamins (thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, B6), vitamins A, E, K and folate, minerals and amino acids (read this - https://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/black-oil-sunflower-seeds.html). I believe this really helps, and I imagine the hens must know it because they love them and I assume it's not because they taste or smell great, but who knows.
I also gave her meat, which I think was a HUGE help (chickens are NOT vegetarians!), in the form of sardines (in olive oil, NO SALT) or high-quality cat food. Some may balk at this, but I've seen a chicken swallow a frog whole, so. I make what I call "hen haggis" - cat food mixed with corn kernels and oats. I'll add a bit of hot water and stir it up for their breakfast in the freezing cold. (This is all in addition to commercial mash as their regular winter feed.) EVERY TIME I've fed George meat she becomes bolder and more energetic, more confident.
Over the course of December and January, I spent a lot of time observing her, learning her behavior, trying to discern her wants and needs, moving her from place to place in the coop, helping her adjust. Occasionally as she improved and wanted to move more, I gave her 20-40mg buffered aspirin (baby aspirin or low-dose chewable, orange flavored worked well). I probably ought to have tried that earlier on. The physical therapy and also my benevolence and role as 'transport fairy' & defender against bullying all seemed to contribute to the confidence that helped her gain strength. I made sure she ate and drank plenty, distracting the others with treats while I fed her. I carefully trimmed her toenails, which had overgrown a bit from disuse.
So I stuck it out with George. I had no idea then and have no clear idea now whatever caused her mysterious lameness, and often I lamented that she might never get better. I can only guess it was either an odd injury, maybe to her back or pelvis, or vitamin deficiency. She has the same diet as the others, so perhaps she is just congenitally prone to require more of certain things. I have read that little chicks can suffer rickets, but never have found anything concerning older pullets or grown hens. I really don't know what happened.
Nevertheless, after two and a half months of care, she walks almost normally, maintains her balance without falling on her face, flaps her way up onto a hay bale and somehow makes it down again (I have yet to see that part). She has a dust bath, stretches without falling, shakes her feathers out, and just a couple days ago I saw her trying to scratch in the dirt on the floor of their coop. She couldn't do ANY of this up to about ten days ago. The past few days she seems to be recovering increasingly rapidly. Chickens are mysterious.
This was kinda long-winded, but I want to be detailed since I don't know how available I will be to respond to any comments or questions, as I am not the type to keep up with social media very well. But I will try to remember to check now and then. So please do ask questions or leave comments, and I hope that others who have had a hen recover from the mysteries of sudden lameness that seem a surprisingly common concern will also write about their little friend's recovery. I wish I'd had something like this to read two months ago.
The best outcome (apart from the fact that she is about 80% back to normal) is that I really got to know these creatures, and develop very individual relationships with them. I try to speak and understand their language, and I feel loved by them, and I don't believe as some people do that it's only because I provide food. I feel as though we know each other, and for me an interspecies bond is one of the great achievements a person can hope for in this life.